What is Translation? A Complete Guide to Translation Types, Uses & Legal Validity
Sophia Orji
This post is also available in:English /
Updated:
Jul 4, 2025
Published:
Jul 4, 2025
Every day, translation helps people from different countries talk, trade, learn, and grow together. From business contracts and websites to books and medical records, translation makes sure ideas don’t get lost between languages. It is how the world understands itself.
In this guide, we’ll break down what translation really is, how it works, and how to become a translator yourself.
Table of Contents
What is translation?
Translation is the process of converting written or spoken content from one language into another, while preserving its original meaning, tone, and context. It enables communication between people who speak different languages, making ideas, information, and stories accessible across cultures and borders.
The word “translation” comes from the Latin “translatio”, meaning “to carry across”, and that’s exactly what translation does. It carries meaning, not just words, from one language (called the source language) to another (the target language).
A good translation captures the intent, tone, and style of the original content, allowing the new audience to experience it in the same way as the original. This may involve rephrasing sentences, adjusting idioms, or even modifying cultural references to ensure the message still resonates.
Why translations are important
Global communication: From a speech at the United Nations or a WhatsApp message between friends in different countries, translation makes global conversations possible.
Access to knowledge and education: Many of the world’s books, academic papers, scientific research, and historical texts exist in just one language. Translation enables it to spread, helping students, professionals, and researchers learn from work produced worldwide.
Business and trade: Companies use translation to reach international markets, localise their products, and connect with customers around the world.
Preservation of culture and literature: Without translation, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy Korean dramas or anime from Japan. It allows stories to travel and cultures to be shared.
Support for migration and travel: Immigrants and travellers rely on translation for visas, official documents, health services, and more. It helps people feel safe and informed when living or moving abroad.
Types of translation
Below are the most common types of translation used today:
1. Business translation
This includes internal and external communication, reports, presentations, proposals, and company policies. Business translation is important for multinational teams and global partnerships where clarity and tone are key.
A broad category that covers translating general documents such as resumes, letters, CVs, certificates, application forms, and more. It’s one of the most frequently requested translation types for everyday use.
3. Legal translation
This involves translating legal documents, such as contracts, agreements, court rulings, terms and conditions, privacy policies, and legal correspondence. It requires a strong understanding of legal terminology and the legal systems of both source and target countries.
4. Literary translation
The translation of books, poetry, short stories, and plays. Literary translators must preserve the author’s voice, tone, emotion, and stylistic choices while adapting the text for a different cultural audience.
5. Technical translation
It is focused on instruction manuals, engineering specs, safety data sheets, user guides, and machinery documentation. Technical translators must be detail-oriented and familiar with industry-specific terms.
6. Financial translation
Includes the translation of financial reports, balance sheets, investment portfolios, tax documents, insurance contracts, and banking materials. Accuracy and confidentiality are vital in this field.
7. Marketing translation
Goes beyond word-for-word conversion. It adapts brand messaging, slogans, ads, and content to resonate with a local audience while maintaining the core brand identity, often involving transcreation.
8. Medical translation
Used for translating medical records, prescriptions, clinical trial documentation, patient consent forms, and pharmaceutical information. Accuracy is important to ensure patient safety and regulatory compliance.
9. Website translation
The process of translating an entire website's content, from landing pages to blog posts and metadata. It is often paired with localisation to make sure cultural references, design, and calls-to-action work in every target market.
There are two main methods of translation: human translation and machine translation. Each method has its strengths and ideal use cases. Let’s look at both in detail.
1. Human translation
Human translation is performed by skilled professionals who are fluent in both the source and target languages. But more importantly, they also understand the cultural, emotional, and contextual layers behind the words.
This approach is necessary when nuance, tone, style, or cultural sensitivity plays a key role in communication. For example, a human translator can identify and adjust for sarcasm, idioms, wordplay, and culturally specific references that would confuse or mislead readers if translated literally.
Although human translation takes more time and is costly, it offers quality and reliability that machines cannot yet fully match.
2. Machine translation
Machine translation (MT) is the automated translation of text by software without direct human input. Popular tools like Google Translate, DeepL, and Microsoft Translator use algorithms to scan and convert languages from one to another in seconds.
Modern MT systems are trained on massive multilingual databases and are increasingly accurate for general-purpose content. However, they often struggle with idiomatic language, specialised vocabulary, and cultural nuance.
To solve this, many professionals use machine translation combined with human editing (also known as MTPE – Machine Translation Post-Editing) to balance speed and quality.
Machine translation works best when the goal is speed, not perfection. It’s commonly used for informal communication, internal business documents, or when you need a rough idea of what something means.
Professional translators use a range of techniques to convey meaning, tone, and context across languages. These techniques can be grouped into categories based on their purpose, which could be staying close to the original, adapting content culturally, or improving flow and clarity.
1. Direct translation techniques
These methods stick closely to the structure and wording of the original text. They're useful when the source and target languages share similar grammar and sentence structure.
Literal translation
A word-for-word conversion that preserves sentence structure.
English: The cat is on the table → Spanish: El gato está sobre la mesa
Borrowing
Using the original word in the translation, often for names, brands, or untranslatable concepts.
English: Pizza, déjà vu, emoji
Calque (Loan translation)
A literal, word-for-word translation of a phrase that creates a new expression in the target language.
Transcription, translation, and interpretation are important language services used to make spoken or written content accessible across different formats and languages. Although they are often used together, they serve different functions.
What is transcription?
Transcription is the process of converting spoken words into written text. This involves listening to an audio or video recording and typing out everything that’s said. Transcriptions can be verbatim (including filler words and pauses) or edited for clarity and readability. It’s commonly used in interviews, podcasts, lectures, meetings, and legal proceedings.
What is translation?
Translation is the process of converting written text from one language into another. In the context of transcription and translation services, this often means taking the transcribed text (in the original language) and translating it into a new language, while preserving its tone, meaning, and intent.
What is interpretation?
Interpretation refers to the conversion of spoken words in real time. Interpreters listen to someone speaking in one language and immediately render their message into another. This can happen face-to-face, over the phone, or through video conferencing.
Difference between transcription, translation, and interpretation
Transcription deals with converting the same language from one form to another, spoken to written (e.g., English audio to English text).
Translation works across two languages, written to written (e.g., English text to French text).
Interpretation is used when you need to communicate in real-time in multilingual settings such as court hearings.
Tools and technologies in translation
Translators rely on a mix of traditional skills and modern tools to improve speed and accuracy. Here are some of the most widely used tools and technologies:
1. Computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools
CAT tools help human translators work more efficiently by breaking content into manageable segments and storing previous translations for reuse. They are software programs that help translators maintain translation quality by automating repetitive tasks. Most CAT tools offer a number of features that can help with consistency, productivity, and quality assurance.
2. Translation memory (TM)
A translation memory is a database that stores previously translated text segments (like phrases or sentences). When the same or similar text appears again, the TM suggests the previous translation, saving time and ensuring consistency. For example, if the “Terms and Conditions” page has already been translated once, it doesn’t need to be retranslated in future documents.
3. Terminology management tools
These tools help maintain accuracy in specialised fields (like legal, medical, or technical translation) by managing approved terms and definitions of words in their translated text. Also known as termbases or termbase systems, they are often used by organisations working with multiple languages to ensure that all translations adhere to a specific brand style.
4. Translation management systems (TMS)
A translation management system (TMS) is a software solution that helps businesses streamline the entire translation process from project setup and task assignment to final delivery and review. These combine features in CAT tools with more features for managing workflows, automating tasks, tracking progress, and generating reports.
5. Quality assurance (QA) tools
QA tools automatically scan translations for common errors like inconsistent terms, missing numbers, spacing issues, or punctuation mistakes. They help catch small issues before the final delivery.
Becoming a translator
Translators play a vital role in the translation process. They are the language experts who convey the meaning of words in one language to another, while considering cultural nuances.
Primarily, a translator's job is to provide accurate translation that reads as though it were originally written in the target language. However, the process of becoming one isn’t as straightforward as the job sounds.
Here’s an overview of what you’ll need to become a professional translator.
Become fluent in at least two languages
To succeed as a translator, you must have native-level proficiency in at least one language (usually your target language) and advanced fluency in another (usually your source language).
Your target language is the language you will translate into; this should ideally be your mother tongue. Your source language is the language you will translate from. Most translators prefer to focus on one or two language pairs to avoid confusion (e.g French to English, German to English.)
Choose a specialisation
To stand out as a translator, you need to have a specialisation, i.e., an industry you are well-versed in. This ensures you are familiar with the tone and terminology used in that field and can deliver the type of translation required.
You can choose from legal, medical, marketing, financial, or even technical. It’s totally up to you! If you’re unsure which area to start with, think about your background and/or experience and connect the dots to the industry where you feel the most comfortable, or maybe pays the most, whichever comes first for you.
Build strong writing skills in your target language
Translation is as much about writing as it is about language knowledge. You need to be able to write clearly and accurately, match the tone of the original, and adapt grammar and sentence structure for natural flow when translating. So, while making efforts to be fluent in your target language, make an equal effort to write accurately.
Get certified (If required or recommended)
Depending on your country or career goals, getting certified can help you prove your skills. While it's not mandatory everywhere, certification adds credibility and can help you get high-paying jobs. Some common certifications include;
American Translators Association (ATA) – USA
Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) – UK
National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) – Australia
Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) – UK
Gain translation experience
Start small and build a portfolio of work. You can gain experience by either volunteering with non-profits, open-source projects, or translating blog posts or articles for practice. As you grow, you can then take on freelance jobs through platforms like ProZ.com, TranslatorsCafe, Upwork, or Fiverr, or intern at translation agencies or with international companies.
Earn a relevant degree
While not always required, a degree can give you an edge. You might pursue a degree in languages, linguistics, or translation studies, or a specialised degree in your field of interest (e.g., law, medicine, engineering) if you want to translate technical content. Some universities offer dedicated translation and interpretation programmes that cover both theory and real-world practice.
